As we start into the Christmas season, we will consider some of the words surrounding this time of the year: Faith, Hope, Love, Peace and Joy. Today we start with faith and the Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. As we look at this passage we will see what Mary learns about faith and how she pleased God.

As Christians, we are called to serve the living God, not an idea crafted by human hands, but by the Creator who shapes us as we follow Him. We need to be humble in our daily lives and be looking for opportunities to serve others.

In this passage Paul gets us to look beyond the worries and troubles of this world and fix our eyes into eternity, God's New Heaven and New Earth.

Paul has been reflecting on the ministry that the Gentiles received from the Jewish Christians. Now the Gentile Christians have the opportunity to return the favour and serve those in Jerusalem. What a joy it is to give and receive ministry as we serve Jesus.

As Paul closes this section on how we live together in church community, he has outlined what that looks like. It involves us Receiving one another and not judging each other (14:1-12), building others up in the Lord (14:13-23) and setting out to follow Jesus' example of service, by pleasing others rather than ourselves (15:1-7). We do this as we read the scriptures and pray for one another.